Pontiac privatizes Department of Public Works WITH VIDEO

The Oakland Press/VAUGHN GURGANIAN.
Cathy Square, Pontiac DPW Director, at left, and Lou Schimmel, Pontiac Emergency Manager, next to some traffic signals laying around the DPW's 15-acre parcel that Schimmel is trying to sell for $1.

The Oakland Press/DUSTIN BLITCHOK
"These aren't energy efficient," Pontiac Emergency Financial Manager Lou Schimmel said with a laugh of the windows, some of which are broken, at the Department of Public Works building.

PONTIAC -- At the city's 220,000-square foot Department of Public Works building, two employee timecards sit in a rack that holds about 90.

"We just can't maintain this building anymore," said DPW Director Cathy Square as she walked through the facility at 55 Wesson St. "We just can't."

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As of Jan. 1, the department's core functions have been contracted out by Emergency Financial Manager Lou Schimmel to five private companies for an estimated savings of $516,701.69 per year.

"I know this will improve city services," Schimmel said.

All of the department's 10 employees "have to be laid off," Schimmel said. "Eight of them are taking an early retirement buyout."

One of the city's new contractors has expressed interest in rehiring some or all of the employees, Schimmel said.

The city's needs have changed, said DPW Director Square.

"Most of these guys are mechanics, which is why we have such a problem now, because when we used to have a police force with police cars, and we had a water department with water trucks and we had all these vehicles, we had this huge mechanic gain," she said.

"We don't have any of that now, so we basically have mechanics driving trucks and digging holes and cleaning bathrooms," Square said.

"Remember, the city has laid off 300 people over the past three or four years. These were the guys with the most seniority," she said.

"So, most of those guys are very good. They're skilled mechanics. City mechanics are invaluable mechanics, because they know how to service both cars and trucks," Square said. "They are rare. I don't think any of those guys will be unemployed if they want to work."

DPW Foreman Vince Jimenez said when he hired in 23 years ago, the department had about 200 employees.

"I think, compared to the staffing levels that we're at right now, and what our capabilities are to provide services for the residents of the city, that this would be a benefit," Jimenez said.

"Sure, it's a sad thing. There are many employees here with several years of seniority in the place -- 15, 20 years -- and they take pride in the job they do, and they don't like to see it going away."

The department's supervisory staff of five foremen will stay on and work from an office on the ground floor of City Hall.

District 3 City Councilwoman Mary Pietila said she heard from a DPW employee: "Mary, help us save our jobs."

"I have heard through the grapevine that this is happening," Pietila said. "Once Schimmel makes up his mind to do away with everything, there's no taking it back. Once we sell all of our equipment, we'd have to start all over from scratch. There's no going back, because he's sold everything."

The Road Commission for Oakland County is now responsible for plowing and salting the city's major roads, and neighborhood streets are handled by the TDE Group.

Schimmel said: "That's most of what the DPW did in the winter."

Other DPW services include: The maintenance of traffic signals and street lights, now contracted with J. Ranck Electric, Inc.; street sign maintenance, now contracted with Great Lakes Municipal; street patching and rail maintenance, now contracted with Asphalt Specialists, Inc.; and street sweeping, now contracted with National Industrial Maintenance, Inc.

"What it really means is that the city ... we actually have the capacity to do these things and do them well, in an organized fashion," Square said of the contracts.

Square cited preventative maintenance on traffic signals as an example: "The city hasn't done that in over 10 years," she said.

"The whole point of all of this is to provide service."

City in negotiations to sell DPW yard

Schimmel stood in the DPW building this week and peered out its ancient windows, some of which are broken.

"These aren't energy efficient," he said with a laugh.

The city spends thousands every month on heating and lighting the sprawling structure.

"We have a very contaminated site. I have always considered the working conditions over there to be deplorable, and the building and grounds to be deplorable and greatly contaminated," Schimmel said.

"For us to go buy a new site and building, in Pontiac's financial condition, is simply not doable, so it was the combination of better service by contractors and my self-imposed feeling that we had to get out of that building and get the environmental thing resolved ... (those) two things are what made me make this move," he said.

DPW Director Square said the 15-acre DPW yard and building was a Consumers Energy gasification and creosote plant before being purchased by the city.

The city also is responsible for some contamination at the site that would cost millions to clean up, Square said.

Schimmel said he's negotiating with Consumers Energy to sell the property back to its former owner. Elements of the deal include demolition of the DPW building and an environmental cleanup, he said.

Consumers Energy spokesman Dan Bishop said the utility "continues to evaluate the possibility of acquiring land from the City of Pontiac that is currently being used by the city's Department of Public Works.

"The site once was the location of a manufactured gas plant, and Consumers Energy is currently monitoring the site and managing remediation efforts at the property," Bishop said.